People are upset that the CEO of Kellogg’s, a cereal business, said that people who are having a hard time paying their bills should eat cereal for dinner. Chief Executive Officer Gary Pilnick started working for Kellogg’s in October and makes $5 million a year. Pilnick agreed that the rising cost of living is making things hard for many people and then suggested that eating cereal for dinner might help them save money. Pilnick said that he didn’t think it was a problem when asked if this message might “land the wrong way.“
Cereal for Dinner: A Solution, or Out of Touch?
Many people in the US are having a hard time because prices are going up everywhere, including for rent, gas, and food. Pilnick shared with CNBC: “The cereal category has always been quite affordable and it tends to be a great destination when consumers are under pressure.” He continued: “If you think about the cost of cereal for a family versus what they might otherwise do, that’s going to be much more affordable.” The CEO then said that recent trends show that more people are having cereal for dinner.
Greedflation is forcing families to make choices like eating cereal for dinner to save money. Kellogg's CEO is bragging about it while they show the huge climb in corporate profits that helped create the problem in the first place. Fuck this shit. pic.twitter.com/NH2EYaKTXu
— Evan Sutton (@3vanSutton) February 21, 2024
He said, “Currently it’s landing very well.” It turns out that more than 25% of what we eat is not necessarily breakfast. It happens a lot at dinner. And the importance of that event keeps growing.” “We talk about making sure we have the right pack at the right price in the right place,” he said, adding that they are also changing the size of their packs. “So having a different sized pack that’ll have a different price point, that’ll take some pressure off the consumer while they’re shopping.” Online, people are very angry about the talk. A lot of them say Pilnick is “out of touch” with the problems that regular people have.
Online Sparring Over Kellogg’s CEO’s Comments
In response, someone said, “What an insult.” He probably feeds that to his kids. One person said: “People can no longer afford to feed their families and the best anyone can offer is peasant gruel with not only no nutritional value but negative health consequences.” A third person shared: “Gruel is a food consisting of some type of cereal—such as ground oats, wheat, rye, or rice a staple diet for peasants.“
UNILAD has asked Kellogg’s for a response. It’s true that inflation is going down in the US, but food prices are still going up. Even so, food prices are going up faster than the Consumer Price Index from December 2023 to January 2024. This means that it costs more to feed your family.
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